The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education on Monday will finalize its budget for the fiscal year that already started this week.
A new budget was designed by the board’s finance committee last week, after months of waiting for the state and borough governments to finalize school funding. The committee reversed multiple major cuts described in a preliminary budget in April, though the new document includes a steeper reduction in borough staffing.
Normally, the district is expected to complete its budget before May to advance to the borough. This year, the district didn’t know how much money it would have until June 17.
The Alaska Legislature on May 2 passed a bill increasing per-student funding by $700. They fended off a veto of the bill by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on May 20. Dunleavy vetoed funding to schools inside the state’s budget on June 12 — slashing $50 million in education funding and reducing the per-student funding increase to $500.
The borough didn’t finalize its plans for education funding until June 17, voting 8-1 to provide max funding as requested by the district — the borough budget originally included roughly $5 million less for schools.
All those changes came after the district advanced its preliminary budget in April — and meant that when the district’s finance committee met last week they had to craft a budget with less money than they’d initially expected.
The preliminary budget was designed assuming full funding from the borough and a $680 increase in per-student funding — Board President Zen Kelly said Thursday that Dunleavy’s latest veto represents a roughly $3 million cut to the district.
The finance committee constructed a budget to meet that new reality, while targeting a lower amount of what Kelly called “contingency” surplus money. Where previous budgets designed by the committee sought to have roughly $4 million extra available — seemingly to account for the possibility that the borough would provide less funding than expected — the new budget includes only $1.3 million in surplus dollars.
The new budget designed by the committee will be considered at a public hearing during the full board meeting on Monday evening, where a budget will need to be approved to meet a July 15 deadline.
Major cuts, including the closure of Sterling Elementary and elimination of pool managers, most theater techs and Kenai Peninsula Middle College, were all reversed in the new budget document.
Though all the district’s library aides last month received termination notices, the new budget says that no library aides will be eliminated. Reductions to workdays are described for pool managers and library aides, while some theater techs will still lose their jobs. The middle college will see its funding halved.
The new budget includes a larger increase in the pupil-to-teacher ratio than the original budget, an increase of two students per teacher in all schools up from an increase of one student per teacher in most schools. That ratio defines staffing at each building, not the number of students in a classroom. Buildings will have fewer teaching staff under the cut, though Superintendent Clayton Holland said this cut will require only reshuffling some staff and leaving empty positions unfilled — rather than a laying off any teachers.
Still, those cuts mean the borough plans to spend nearly $2.4 million less on teacher salaries and benefits next year compared to this year — a reduction increased from around $1.2 million in the April preliminary budget.
Kelly said that the district has significantly lower pupil-to-teacher ratios than other large districts in the state.
“This is a big step for our district,” he said. “But I believe it is necessary.”
The budget also calls for new cuts to bussing routes — spending around $350,000 less than expected on transportation. KPBSD Planning and Operations Director Kevin Lyon declined to say during the committee meeting which routes would be eliminated, though he noted that no areas will cease to be serviced.
The district also plans to eliminate its director of elementary education. Eric Pederson, who was in that role, was named the new principal of Homer High School in April. That position was paid around $195,000 in salaries and benefits, according to the budget document.
The budget could see further changes on Monday, as members of the finance committee said they wanted to revisit the planned halving of stipends for extracurricular athletics. The new budget proposal says that the district will spend around $500,000 less on stipends next year, though members like Vice President Jason Tauriainen said they don’t know what a 50% cut to stipends actually means for district sports.
Sarah Douthit, another member of the committee, said she didn’t support the cut because it lacks a plan.
Kelly said that he wanted to see some kind of cut to sports as they also implement such significant changes to classrooms.
“It doesn’t sit will with me to leave sports at 100%.”
The board of education will meet Monday, July 7. A finance work session during the day will include discussion on the budget, and there will be an opportunity for public comment during the full board meeting that evening at 6 p.m. before the document is finalized. Agendas for the meeting will be made available at the KPBSD BoardDocs website.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
